Ethnic Iranians are seen as being Muslim, and carrying out any Christian activities in their Farsi language is illegal. An Iranian man who leaves Islam can be sentenced to death and a woman to life imprisonment, although such sentences haven’t been carried out for more than 20 years. However, in 2017 over a dozen Christians – most of them converts to Christianity – were given prison sentences of between 10 and 15 years for “acting against national security”. According to religious freedom watchdog Article 18, such political charges attempt “to avoid international outcry at religiously motivated charges”. Several imprisoned Iranian Christians have undertaken hunger strikes in protest.

Iran’s security officials have arrested three Christians who were leading a house church in the absence of their pastor who is serving a ten-year jail sentence, reports Article 18. In the latest raid on a non-Trinitarian “Church of Iran” on Sunday, 10 February, in the northern city of Rasht, officers […]

Iranian authorities continue to arrest Christians, among them a 65-year-old woman who was held in detention and interrogated for ten days, day and night. Security officials raided Ruhsari Kamberi’s home in Karaj, 50km west of the capital Tehran, a few days before Christmas while she was there with four other […]

At least seven Iranian Christian converts have been arrested in Iran in the last two weeks, including two sisters who allegedly have been beaten. Shima Zanganeh, 27, and her sister, Shokoufeh, 30, were arrested by Intelligence Service officials in their homes in Ahvaz, capital of Iran’s western Khuzestan province, on 2 […]

Over 100 Christians have been arrested in Iran in the past week and nearly 150 in the past month, as part of the government’s attempt to “warn” Christians against proselytising over Christmas, according to the advocacy director of religious freedom charity Article 18. Mansour Borji called the number of arrests […]

Two Iranian Christian converts were taken by Iran’s security agents in two separate raids on houses in Karaj and Mashhad on Friday, 16 November, reports Middle East Concern (MEC). Behnam Ersali and Davood Rasooli had agreed to meet in Mashhad on Friday when they were both arrested. It is believed […]

Two Iranian Christians have been given prison sentences for “spreading propaganda against the regime”, reports Middle East Concern. Saheb Fadaei and Fatimeh Bakhteri, who belong to the non-Trinitarian “Church of Iran”, were sentenced to 18 and 12 months, respectively. Middle East Concern noted that in the verdict it was written […]

Amnesty International has called for the release of four Iranians sentenced to a combined total of 45 years in prison “solely for practising their Christian faith”. Its report calls for urgent action from the Iranian government to “quash the convictions and sentences of Victor Bet-Tamraz, Shamiram Isavi, Amin Afshar-Naderi, and […]

An Iranian convert to Christianity serving ten years in prison for “missionary activities” has written an open letter to the Iranian authorities, asking how his Christian activities could be perceived as anti-state. “Would it even be possible for a committed Christian – who was born and raised in Iran and […]

The US Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF) has called for the “immediate and unconditional” release of an Iranian pastor and three of his church members, after they were taken to prison last week to serve ten-year sentences for “acting against national security” by “promoting Zionist Christianity” and running “house […]

Iranian pastor Youcef Nadarkhani has been taken to Evin Prison in the capital, Tehran, after a violent raid on his home in the northern city of Rasht on Sunday (22 July). The pastor was sentenced to ten years in prison in July of last year, alongside three members of his congregation, and had […]